The present invention relates to bread; and more particularly, to an improved dry mix and a method which enable the rapid and simplified production of high quality bread in the home.
Baking bread is normally a complicated procedure which takes from 3.5 to 5 hours to complete. A typical procedure calls for forming a dough by mixing water, yeast, flour and other minor additives such as salt, sugar, and shortening in a bowl and then kneading by alternately flattening and folding for a period of at least about 10 minutes. After the kneading, the dough is placed in a warm environment to permit the yeast to ferment, causing the dough to rise and to effect the proper changes in the gluten and starch portions of the flour. After this initial fermentation, during which the dough will have doubled in volume, the dough is then punched down, kneaded for another two or three minute period, and subjected to an intermediate fermentation or proofing step until the volume has again doubled. The large dough mass is then worked by hand, divided into units of suitable size for baking, and placed in pans where it is permitted proof for another 30 minutes or so to double the volume. Finally, the dough is then baked for about 30 minutes. Because of this complex procedure, very few people find the time to prepare home-baked fresh bread--despite its universal appeal.
Recently, there have been developed batter recipes for preparing home-baked bread with reduced time and effort commitments. However, because a true dough is not formed, the texture of the bread, including its resilience and crumb, cannot be considered to be of high quality. These bread mixes typically contain excess water, chemical leavening, and medium-soft flour which permit the formation of a batter; however, it is the batter form of the product which is responsible for the relatively inferior quality of the end product.
In one recent attempt to provide an improved dry mix and process for home bread baking, Henika et al disclose in U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,680, a dry mix which contains essential gluten activating and maturing agents, with the activating agent being present at levels sufficient to react with substantially all of the protein in the dough to achieve desired dough viscosities in a short mixing period. Starch modifying agents are also used for improvement of flavor and dough properties, and slow-acting oxidants or maturing agents are also employed. While the disclosed procedure does provide a significant simplification over the prior art, it is still more complicated than would be desired, and we have had difficulty in reproducing the quality indicated in the patent. Specifically, reference to Example 1 shows an initial step of separately hydrating the active dry yeast with water prior to mixing with the remaining dry ingredients. Then, after mixing is completed, the resulting dough is allowed to ferment for at least 15 minutes. After fermentation is completed, the dough is then kneaded steadily for about 3 minutes. Following these stages, the dough is divided into suitably-shaped pieces and placed in a baking pan. Then, the dough is placed in an oven maintained at about 140.degree. F. for 30 minutes for proofing prior to baking in conventional manner. While this procedure does permit the reduction in the fermentation and kneading requirements normally necessary for bread preparation, it achieves this only with the addition of gluten activating and maturing agents and still requires significant fermentation and kneading in combination with a proofing step which requires careful temperature control. In fact, the initial step of hydrating the active dry yeast requires careful temperature control, although it is indicated that it is possible to add all of the ingredients to the water at one time.
In another effort to produce a simplified bread mix and process, it is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,305, that the use of an additive composition containing defined amounts of an ascorbate compound, an edible oxidizing agent, and an edible sulfhydryl-containing reducing agent, permits a substantial reduction in the time usually required for the kneading and fermentation steps, and in certain instances, either one of these steps may be eliminated. Significantly, however, either a significant kneading time (on the order of 4 minutes or more) after the initial mixing, or an initial fermentation (of from at least 15 to about 60 minutes) is required for good results. And, it is preferred in all instances that kneading be conducted for at least about 1 minute. Thus, while this procedure does to some extent simplify the home baking procedure and reduce the time requirements, further improvement would be desired.